Name

Construction

Type

Date

Official Number

Description

Yard Number: 1,000 (Hall, Russell's shipyard as A & P Appledore)
Launched 31st October 1989, fitted out and handed to owners in 1990.

Renamed: TAHITI (2018)

As of June 2003, the vessel sails to Cape Town and St Helena from Portland, Dorset rather than Cardiff. Vessel managed by Andrew Weir Shipping. This was the last vessel built in Aberdeen.

St Helena is the last working Royal Mail Ship in continuous service.

The 128 berth passenger and cargo vessel will retire in July 2016, due to an island airport due to open in 2016.
The last sailings of the vessel will include a rare visit to the UK. Voyage 242 will see the vessel visit London, sailing under Tower Bridge and be moored alongside HMS BELFAST from 5th to 14th June.
She will be at anchor in St. James Bay for five days in July before arriving in Cape Town on 15th July. This was to be the end of her service but due to issues with the airport, RMS "St Helena" is expected to continue in service until September 2016.

"The RMS St Helena arrived in St Helena for the last time on January 29, 2018. As Britain’s last working postal ship, she sailed to the remote islands of St Helena delivering mail to 4,500 residents for nearly three decades.
St Helena now has a commercial airport, so the purpose-built ship is no longer needed. Renamed MNG Tahiti, the 103-meter (340-foot) ship is being readied by her new owner MNG Maritime to become a floating armory working in the Gulf of Oman. She will deliver security guards and weapons to vessels sailing through the region and is expected to be operational in her new role in the next few months".
(Source: maritime-executive.com)